Prevalence & Treatments
Hello Everyone! I just want to start off saying that I
feel so special and happy that you all are responding to my blog posts. The
thing that is making the happiest is that you all are reading my post and are
learning about a lot about mental illnesses. I will continue doing my best on
trying to inform you guys about things regarding mental health. Now back to
business, I was looking at the comments on my last blog post and I saw that
some of my viewers wanted to know about treatments. In my last blog post, I
mentioned that I would be discussing the prevalence of the mental illnesses
people suffer from and who are most common to get mental illnesses. So, in this
week’s blog post I will be discussing treatments and prevalence.
The first thing that will be discussed is, the prevalence
with mental illnesses in the United States. Approximately 1 in 5 adults are diagnosed
with a mental illness, so that is 43.8 million people who are suffering from
mental illnesses. 1 in 25 adults experience serious mental illness which interferes
with their daily lives, so that is 9.8 million people who are affected. 1 in 5
youth aged children (ages 13-18) experiences severe mental disorders at least
once in their lives. 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia; 2.6 of
adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder; 18.1% of adults experienced some
form of anxiety disorder (PTSD, OCD, etc.); and 6.9% of adults experienced at
least one major depressive episode (NAMI, 2018)
When
it comes to discussing treatments about the following mental illnesses, there
is so many things that health care professionals could do to try to help the individuals
that are suffering. The main treatments that are given to individuals who
suffer from the common illnesses (that were discussed in the previous post) are
medications and physiotherapy (aka talk therapy); the treatments are used to
reduce symptoms of the mental illness that people suffer from.
The
treatments that are used to treat depression is medication, psychotherapy, or
combination of both; if they do not work to reduce symptoms, Electroconvulsive
therapy (ECT) and other brain stimulation therapies will be explored; but the
medication and psychotherapy usually works so it’s rare for other methods to be
used. Effective treatment for Bipolar Disorder is a combination of medication
and psychotherapy; Since this is a lifelong illness, individuals may experience
maniac and depression episodes every once and awhile, but in between time the
individuals are free of mood changes. When it comes to Schizophrenia there are
so many things that could be used to treat this mental illness, because the
causes are still unknown; So, the treatments that might be used are Antipsychotics
(type of medication), psychosocial treatments, and coordinated specialty care (NIMH,
2016).
When
it comes to Borderline Personality Disorder, in the past it’s been known to be
difficult to treat; but now since more research has been done the best methods
to treat individuals are psychotherapy and medications. They need to be prescribed
by a trained health care professional because they will know how often the
treatment needs to be used for it to benefit the struggling individual. Treatments
for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) usually are medications, psychotherapy,
or combination of both; but lately individuals who uses these treatments still
experience symptoms, and it has been mentioned by professionals that they may
not work because people who have OCD may have another mental illness. The main
treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are medications and
psychotherapy, but everyone is different; since everyone is different, PTSD
affects individuals differently, so there is a side of people who respond
better to medication, and there is another side where people respond better to
psychotherapy (NIMH, 2016).
NIMH.
Health & Education. (2016). Retrieved March 01, 2018, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/index.shtml
NAMI.
Mental health by numbers. (2018). Retrieved March 01, 2018, from
https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers
It's so refreshing to know that there are treatments out there to help individuals cope with their mental illness. Anxiety is a very common condition, and by the looks of your research, it's safe to say that it's the most common out of all of the conditions you mentioned. I know someone who suffers from anxiety, which effected the way they went about life; they weren't really as social and they always felt worried that they would do something wrong. They also would tell me they had a hard time sleeping. Luckily, they take medication to help them improve, and now I'm seeing a great difference in them. They're more social and don't worry about things as much. Even though there are some occasions when they have a hard time sleeping, they do tell me they've had some type of improvement.
ReplyDeleteWhat a very enlightening post! I really enjoyed it :)
I always look forward to your posts! I find it quite interesting that so many people suffer from mental illnesses of all kinds. The stigma that goes along with mental illness is terrible and I think that people need to realize that it really is a big deal and it is important to get help. There are so many options out there for treatment. In a way, this information would be beneficial to my recent post about healthcare. A new policy is trying to be passed that could possibly not allow treatments for mental illnesses to be covered under insurance. That would be a huge problem and I hope that we never get to that point. Everyone should have the opportunity to get the help that they need. It is unfortunate that there aren't cures for everything, but hopefully someday there will be. All that really matters is that people are still able to have a good quality of life.
ReplyDeleteRachel Kaiser
Very informative post. I knew that plenty of adults dealt with mental illness but seeing the statistics was still surprising. Before we researched more into these disease the treatment of mental illnesses in the past was so terrible, I'm glad we've came this far. I hope we continue to look into those diseases that we still don't know much about to come up with even better treatments.
ReplyDeleteKayla J. Ruiz
Hey Nick! Your post was once again very informative! I am glad that your provided statistics on the prevalence of mental illness because many people may not realize how many people are actually affected. I think that the statistic of 1 in 5 young adults ages 13-18 having mental illnesses should be a serious concern for us. I know that there are many mental disorders such as depression and anxiety that are common among this age group. I know that other mental illnesses such as eating disorders are common among young adults, especially women. I think you did an excellent job with sharing the different treatments that are offered.
ReplyDeleteThis was very informational and I am happy we got away from just disorders. It is important to know what they are and how they affect people but I learned more from this post than I feel I would have from another disorders post. I had no idea how many people were affected everyday or in their lifetimes; it makes sense now that look at different events in peoples' lives that could cause PTSD or other illnesses and how little we know about the human brain.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, thank you for sharing
Once again great job nick! It is really nice to know that there are treatments and therapies for these mental illinesses. You threw out some statics that were alarming to me! 1 in 5 youth experience mental illiness. That truly breaks my heart because we don't talk about it nearly enough. And these are children. The more we educate ourselves the more we can help them.
ReplyDeleteNick! Your blog was very informative! Mental illness is a topic that needs to be discussed not just to inform people, but to also look for treatments. I was able to use your blog post as an informational to learn about people with mental disorders. Even in applying myself as an example to this age group. Mental disorders that are common in our age group include depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
ReplyDelete